en-us https://www.intensedebate.com/users/3080876 Comments by psufootball http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/06/30/week-8-%e2%80%93-lesson-14-affirmative-action/#IDComment170446219 I agree with you that the Oprah video was very shocking. It was unbelievable to see the differences in schools that are located so close to each other. It was incredible to see how much more of an advantage the students had who attended the rich school. I think that it is so important in this country that we get our education system up to par across the map. We need to make sure that every school is up to standards to that everyone can get an equal opportunity. This is one of the main reasons why we have affirmative action in the first place. Wed, 6 Jul 2011 22:51:40 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/06/30/week-8-%e2%80%93-lesson-14-affirmative-action/#IDComment170446219 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/06/30/week-8-%e2%80%93-lesson-14-affirmative-action/#IDComment170444712 I learned a lot in this weeks lecture on affirmative action. I thought it was very interesting because I must admit that my views on affirmative action were a little different than they are now that I watched the lecture. I used to by some what against affirmative action because I just thought that it should be the best person that gets the job every time, which I still do think. However, my view has changed in that I think that I now think that affirmative action is very necessary because of nepotism. I had never really thought of nepotism as a similar thing to affirmative action, but the two things are very similar. Nepotism is a huge way that people in this country are given an unfair advantage, and white people are the most likely to benefit from nepotism. This is because their are more white people in positions of power to help someone through nepotism. This is why affirmative action is necessary. Because so many white people are getting a head start through nepotism, there needs to be a way for some minorities to also get an advantage. Although I think that affirmative action is necessary, I think that it is just a small way of solving a big problem that needs to be fixed. We need to fix the root of the problem and make it so that there actually is equal opportunity without affirmative action, but for now this is the best we can do. I am a white male and I have to admit that the internship I have right now is through nepotism. My dad is friends with one of the executives at the company and he helped me get the position. There is a very good chance that I would not have gotten it without nepotism. This brings me to another interesting point from the lecture. Nepotism goes unnoticed and is not talked about because people just think that it is fine because they are so good that they would have gotten ahead anyways. I thought the the stats he showed us on percentage of people who said they follow the ten commandments and what percentage of them think other people do as well. It is so interesting how people think that they are always better than most people. Everybody thinks that they are better than average. I think that affirmative action is a temporary solution to a much bigger problem that we as society are going to need to fix. Although it will be extremely difficult to completely fix racial issues that exist in the world. It is something that we need to strive for. Affirmative action is a very good start but in my opinion we are going to need to do a lot more than that. Wed, 6 Jul 2011 22:45:44 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/06/30/week-8-%e2%80%93-lesson-14-affirmative-action/#IDComment170444712 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/06/26/week-7-%e2%80%93-lesson-13-immigration/#IDComment168485448 I also thought that I knew a lot about immigration before watching this lecture. I too did not really consider the fact that it was an issue that is dictated by businesses and not politicians. Free market capitalism needs illegal immigrants in order to properly operate. We need people to come here from other countries to do some of the jobs that most Americans are not willing to do. I agree with you that every racial group, at some point, has the "low life" finger pointed at them. White immigrants also delt with racism, the difference is that white people decided that once they got on top of the mountain, that they were not going to get off of it Fri, 1 Jul 2011 00:09:59 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/06/26/week-7-%e2%80%93-lesson-13-immigration/#IDComment168485448 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/06/26/week-7-%e2%80%93-lesson-13-immigration/#IDComment168484345 I thought that this weeks lecture on immigration was very interesting. It is true that immigration is a serious topic of conflict in the United States. People are always arguing about illegal immigration in the United States. One part of the lecture that I thought was really interesting and pretty funny was the Part with the clip of Glenn Beck. I have always thought that Glenn Beck is completely crazy. I always find humor in watching him doing anything. I think that this weeks lecture was really interesting because I think that my view on illegal immigration was wrong before I watched it. I always knew that illegal immigrants were a good thing for the United States overall, however I did not ever think about the fact that it is business that determines the Illegal Immigration policies. It makes complete sense that Illegal immigrants can be a very good thing for business. Illegal immigrants are willing to do bad jobs for much less money than Americans are willing to do. This helps businesses become more efficient for less money. I always thought that the root of the problem was a political problem between the democrats and the republicans. It wasn't until now that I learned that it is actually businesses that cause most of the problem. Another part of the lecture that I found to be enjoyable was the part about the racist guy going on a rant about illegal immigration. We have already seen another video of this guy earlier in the semester. I thought that his rant was incredibly ignorant, and also kind of funny. It is people like this that makes many people in the world hate the United States. One part of this that I thought was a little disturbing was the comments that were written about that rant. It is pretty unbelievable that multiple people actually responded positively to this video. It just goes to show that racism is a serious problem in the United States. I also thought that the cartoons that he showed us on illegal immigration with Native Americans and the pilgrims were very amusing. It is very true that Native Americans have every right to be upset with all immigrants, including all of us. They were here first living their lives in peace until we came here and stole everything from them. I also thought it was very interesting how professor Richards pointed out the fact that people from all cultures write their history books in a way that is more favorable to their people. This is why so many Americans tend to ignore the fact that we stole our land from the Native Americans. I thought this weeks lecture was very interesting because it helped me gain more knowledge on immigrationg Fri, 1 Jul 2011 00:05:03 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/06/26/week-7-%e2%80%93-lesson-13-immigration/#IDComment168484345 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/06/26/week-7-%e2%80%93-lesson-12-multiculturalism-lgbt/#IDComment168134947 I agree with you that those stats that he showed us on republicans and democrats were very interesting. That being said, I also agree that he could have presented the other side as well. I feel like a lot of this lecture was him trying to persuade his own political beliefs onto us. Although I did agree with a lot of the things he was saying, I think he definitely could have not made it such a one sided discussion. I thought that it was very interesting when he told us about the assignment where he told his students to tell their parents that they are dating a person outside of their own race. I definitely believe that there are so many people who try and act like they are accepting of everyone until their son or daughter gets involved with one of these other people. Thu, 30 Jun 2011 00:21:21 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/06/26/week-7-%e2%80%93-lesson-12-multiculturalism-lgbt/#IDComment168134947 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/06/26/week-7-%e2%80%93-lesson-12-multiculturalism-lgbt/#IDComment168134017 I thought that both of the lectures this week were very interesting. Both of them were very informative and eye opening. I really thought the part of the beginning of the lecture on multiculturalism that showed all of the statistics on which types of people wanted to live in diverse areas was incredibly interesting. I would have figured that democrats would have been more willing to live with other races more so than republicans. One of the statistics that i found to also be really interesting in this part of the lecture was the fact that people who seldom attend weekly church service are more likely to want to be among diversity than people who do attend church regularly. At first this was a big surprise to me, but then I started to think about it. It is true what professor Richards said about church being the least diverse hour of the week. I know that everyone in my church is white like me. I just thought it was really interesting because people who go to church are usually the same people who always say that they are accepting and loving of all people. This is obviously not true in pretty much every religion so after I thought about it, this statistic seemed to make a lot more sense. Another part of this lecture that I really thought was interesting and something that I strongly agree with is when professor Richards said that people should start to learn how to speak chines. I went to china this year for a week and It is definitely something that I wish I knew how to speak. It is very obvious that China is catching up to the Unites States and is going to be a big factor in all aspects of business in the future. Everywhere you look in China they are building things. There are huge buildings being built everywhere because of how fast their business world is growing. This was a part of the lecture that I really agreed with. I also thought the part of the lecture where he showed us the image of the planes taking off and landing all over the world was very cool. It made it very easy to see just how much the world is globalizing. I also found the lecture on the LGBT to be very interesting as well. I agree with Professor Richards that it would be very difficult to be in the closet, maybe even as difficult as being black for the many reasons that he pointed out. It would be so difficult to have to decide when it was ok and when it was not ok to act gay. This would make it very hard to ever feel fully comfortable around other people who you do not know are gay. I really enjoyed these lectures and look forward to the next ones. Thu, 30 Jun 2011 00:16:11 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/06/26/week-7-%e2%80%93-lesson-12-multiculturalism-lgbt/#IDComment168134017 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/06/22/week-6-%e2%80%93-lesson-10-stages-of-racial-identity-%e2%80%93-people-of-color-stages-1-4/#IDComment165602723 I also thought it was very interesting to learn that white people, black people, and all other minorities, transition through the different stages at different speeds. I agree with you also that I thought the most eye opening part of the lecture was the video about the little black girls and the two dolls. I thought it was incredibly sad to see that these children were so young and thought bad about themselves because of their skin color. It is very upsetting that our society has made it the case where stereotypes are so bad that people start to realize them and take offense to them at such a young age Wed, 22 Jun 2011 23:46:44 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/06/22/week-6-%e2%80%93-lesson-10-stages-of-racial-identity-%e2%80%93-people-of-color-stages-1-4/#IDComment165602723 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/06/22/week-6-%e2%80%93-lesson-10-stages-of-racial-identity-%e2%80%93-people-of-color-stages-1-4/#IDComment165600920 I thought this weeks lecture was very interesting because I hadn't ever really put that much thought into how it feels for black people when they initially realize that they are in the minority. I am white so i thought it was very interesting to think about what that must be like for black people. I also liked this lecture because we already talked about this for white people and I thought it was very cool to try and make comparisons for realizing your race as a white person compared to realizing your race as a black person. One part of the lecture that really got my attention was when he showed us the video on the black children being asked questions. The little black children were given two dolls, one black and one white, and they were asked questions about them. These questions were questions like, which one is bad? and which one is beautiful? most of the children picked the white doll as the good one and the white doll as the beautiful one. I thought that this was a very sad video. It is amazing how society can affect these children so young in life for them to feel like they are bad or ugly just because that is what they think because of society. this just goes to show that we have a serious problem with the way people face racial discrimination, even at such a young age. Another part of the lecture that I found to be very interesting was the part when professor Richards said that he had encountered many Asian people who identify themselves as white. Even though when i initially heard that I thought "how could someone who is Asian think that they are white?" But then when I thought about it I realized that If you are surrounded by basically all white people and you come from a family that never discusses race, then you probably never really would have thought about it growing up. This is kind of similar to what professor Richards was saying about children who are adopted by a family of a different race. He said that the child will most likely be better off in life if his family talks about and embraces the child's race. I thought the part of the lecture about the stages for black people was also very cool. I thought it really made sense when he said that black people almost always advance out of the first stage before white people. This is because they are the minority, so they realize this faster than white people realize that they are not the minority. I thought the story that he told us about the little black girl who came home from pre-school saying that someone called her dirty because her skin was dark. That type of experience would very rarely, if ever, happen to a white child at such a young age. Wed, 22 Jun 2011 23:42:31 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/06/22/week-6-%e2%80%93-lesson-10-stages-of-racial-identity-%e2%80%93-people-of-color-stages-1-4/#IDComment165600920 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/06/07/week-5-%e2%80%93-lesson-9-stages-of-racial-identity-%e2%80%93-white-people-stages-3-4/#IDComment164279635 I agree that this class has taught me that race is much deeper than I originally thought. It is more than just black, brown, or white. I also thought that the video about the two white nationalist girls was very sad because it is such a shame that these girls were taught this without ever really being taught anything else. It will be very difficult for them when they grow up and are exposed to the real world. They will have a very tough time fitting in to society because of their childhood. I thought that the part about racial identifiers was very interesting. I have also found myself in similar situations to you and your friend. I thought that this weeks lecture was very interesting. Sun, 19 Jun 2011 13:52:03 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/06/07/week-5-%e2%80%93-lesson-9-stages-of-racial-identity-%e2%80%93-white-people-stages-3-4/#IDComment164279635 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/06/07/week-5-%e2%80%93-lesson-9-stages-of-racial-identity-%e2%80%93-white-people-stages-3-4/#IDComment164278182 I thought this second lecture on white people was very interesting. I really liked the part of the lecture when he talked about racial identifiers. Racial identifiers are times when it is acceptable and not acceptable to discuss or mention someones race. It is true that I sometimes find myself in a position where I want to say something about race to get my point across but sometimes don't because I feel uncomfortable mentioning it. This is something that happens to people who are in the second stage for the most part. I also thought that it was very interesting when he talked about the third stage. To most students in this class who went into the class in the second stage, this class has probably moved many of them into the third stage. Another part of this lecture that I thought was very unbelievable was the video we watched on the the two girls who are white nationalists. At the start of the video it appeared that they were just normal girls who sing, but then I found out that the girls were singing songs about white supremacy. I thought that this video was very incredible and disturbing. It is too bad that these girls were born into their family because it seems like they really have no choice on what to believe. Their parents are white nationalists and they are home schooled so they really don't have a choice because they are not exposed to that many other people. Another part of the lecture that I thought was really interesting was the part about guilt. It is true that guilt is a much bigger part of life than most people think. Guilt is a huge part of Christianity and Judaism. This is one of the main reasons why I don't like religion at all. One of the major points of it is to behave in certain ways and do certain old traditions or you will upset God. Not following what God wants from people is one of the main reasons why religious people feel guilt. People still feel guilt for many different reasons, but religion is definitely one of the main causes of guilt. I thought it was interesting when he said that you cannot advance through all of the stages without feeling many feelings and emotions, guilt being one of them. It is normal for white people to feel guilty about their race, however most people do not think that they are guilty because they have a different view of what guilt is. Another thing that he said that i found interesting is that guilt is a natural accompaniment to understand the wrongs that have happened to people of color. You need to feel guilt if you ever want to get through the stages and accept your position in race. Also, guilt can help give us a better understanding of race. I thought this lecture was another very interesting one. Sun, 19 Jun 2011 13:44:51 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/06/07/week-5-%e2%80%93-lesson-9-stages-of-racial-identity-%e2%80%93-white-people-stages-3-4/#IDComment164278182 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/06/07/week-5-%e2%80%93-lesson-8-stages-of-racial-identity-%e2%80%93-white-people-stages-1-2/#IDComment163002183 I agree with you that I am very excited to start discussing race relations in this class. I too did not fully understand that we were learning just about race and not about race relations up to this point. I think that the part of the lecture about the pre awakening was very interesting also. It is very true that as a member of the majority, race is such a less significant part of your life as far as you are concerned. In reality, it is a huge part of life, but you never really think about it because you have no real need to .I also agree that it is very important that we do not ignore other races and racial issues because we need to address these issues to help us fully understand them. Wed, 15 Jun 2011 23:32:13 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/06/07/week-5-%e2%80%93-lesson-8-stages-of-racial-identity-%e2%80%93-white-people-stages-1-2/#IDComment163002183 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/06/07/week-5-%e2%80%93-lesson-8-stages-of-racial-identity-%e2%80%93-white-people-stages-1-2/#IDComment163001090 I thought that this weeks lecture on white people was very interesting. As a white person, I must admit that I had not ever really thought about the fact that I am white. I have thought about race and what it means to be other races, however I did not ever really stop and reflect on the fact that I am white and the impact that that has had on my life. I'm sure that if I was any other race I would think about my race quite often. However, the fact that I am white, which the majority of people are in the United States and being white puts you at no disadvantage, I never really had the need to give it too much thought. One part of the class that I found to be very interesting was when he went through the different stages of understanding your race. I think it is true that it would be almost impossible to watch all of these lectures or sit though this class and still remain in the pre-awakening stage. This stage is when you basically have no understanding of race relations and never put any thought into race at all. This class opens your eyes to race to the point where you could not still be in the pre-awakening stage after completing just part of the class. I also agree with professor Richards that it is a problem if white people do not consider and understand the fact that they are the majority and all other races are at a disadvantage to some degree. We need to understand this as we look at race relations and we also need to understand it just in general for daily life. This is important because we, as white people, should understand that this is a problem and consider ways to make it better. I also enjoyed the part of the lecture where he talked about political correctness. I never really thought about political correctness and why people try to be politically correct. I now completely understand why. It makes sense that white people always try to be politically correct because of the history that white people have with black people. Most white people understand that what white people did to black people in slavery was a terrible thing to do and most white people feel bad about it. Political correctness stems from this because white people make an extra effort not to offend other races now, especially black people. Personally, I always try to be politically correct because that is what I have been taught. Political correctness can be a bad thing in some cases because it keeps people from really talking about real issues and expressing their opinions. I thought this weeks lecture was very interesting and look forward to the next few lectures Wed, 15 Jun 2011 23:27:27 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/06/07/week-5-%e2%80%93-lesson-8-stages-of-racial-identity-%e2%80%93-white-people-stages-1-2/#IDComment163001090 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/06/02/week-4-lesson-6-race-and-ethnic-inequality/#IDComment160804049 I also agree with the fact that where we are in this world is almost completely because of forces outside of our control. It all depends on how lucky you get with the situation you are born into. It is very difficult, almost impossible, for us to break away from these strings that we are attached to that shape our lives and experiences. Even if you really want to cut off these strings and try to start over it is incredibly difficult. It would be almost impossible for someone who is a white male born in the suburbs with a wealthy family to all of a sudden completely act like none of that is true. None of us have complete free will because of the strings that we are attached to, Thu, 9 Jun 2011 01:11:19 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/06/02/week-4-lesson-6-race-and-ethnic-inequality/#IDComment160804049 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/06/02/week-4-lesson-6-race-and-ethnic-inequality/#IDComment160802478 I found this weeks lectures to be very eye opening. One part of the lecture that I agreed with and found very interesting was the king of the mountain example. I never really thought of it this way but it makes complete sense. It is true that the first group of people to get on top of the mountain are going to do anything they can to stay on top and keep people who are not like them off of the top. White people just happened to be lucky enough to get on top a long time ago and did a very good job of staying their. I thought it was cool how for his example he had three students come up who were way bigger than him. Even though physically they would have no problem dominating professor Richards, he was able to stay on top of the mountain because once you are on top of the mountain, it is very easy to stay their. Another part of the lecture that I found to be very interesting was the part about how things went down after all of the slaves were freed. I have always heard people say that black people should be able to compete fine with white people because since the slaves were freed we all have equal rights. This is completely not true. I never really thought about what it was like for black people right after the slaves were freed. It must have been almost impossible to compete since white people had such a huge head start in society. White people already owned all of the valuable land and resources so there really was not much that black people could have done fr themselves. Obviously it is not like this anymore, but the root of the problem is still there. There are still so many people with power and money in this country who are still very racist towards black people. It is true that minorities in this country, especially black people and native Americans, have to try to climb to the top of the mountain with one had behind their back. So many people in the United States do not see it this way. I agree with what professor Richards said about it all having to do with the luck of what situation you are born into. Someone who is born black into a family with no money has no say in that. It is completely out of their control. Just like someone who is born into a wealthy white family did not do anything special to deserve that. it is all about how lucky you are with the situation you are born into. Obviously if you are born into a bad situation you can still overcome it and be successful, but it certainly makes it much more difficult. Thu, 9 Jun 2011 01:02:25 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/06/02/week-4-lesson-6-race-and-ethnic-inequality/#IDComment160802478 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/05/25/week-3-lesson-5-social-inequality/#IDComment159776049 I completely agree with you that it is very disturbing how big the gaps are among different races. I also agree that it is completely untrue to say that all races are given equal opportunity. Someone who is born white has such a better chance of graduating from college and being successful. There is an overwhelming amount of evidence which supports the idea that minorities are given less of a chance at success and therefore go on to fail in their education and careers. I also think that the three factors that were brought up all play a factor in our positions in society. Mon, 6 Jun 2011 00:59:00 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/05/25/week-3-lesson-5-social-inequality/#IDComment159776049 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/05/25/week-3-lesson-5-social-inequality/#IDComment159773669 I really enjoyed this weeks lecture on social inequality. I thought that so many of the points that were brought up were so interesting. One part of this lecture that I found to be very interesting was the part when he discussed the major differences between different races in different categories involving education and income. Some of those statistics were very incredible to me. I could not believe the stat about the percentage of each race that graduates from high school and college in the United States. The difference between the different races were huge. I knew that there would be a difference between whites and blacks as far as average percentage of high school and college graduates, but I did not expect it to be that big of a gap. This brought up the discussion of are there biological differences that make the average white person more successful than the average black person in the United States. I did not think that there were any biological differences going into the lecture and that thought was confirmed. I did find the information that he brought up on the matter to be very interesting. I especially enjoyed the discussion of race in sports. I thought it was interesting when he compared the black girl with the Korean kid in track. It is true that black people are much more likely to be fast sprinters than Asians. I think it is very interesting that black people typically have the body type for sprinting, much more so than Koreans. This is true in sprinting, however not as true in other sports like baseball. I thought this part of the class was very cool. Baseball is a sport where there is not a particular body type that is optimal. Most sports are like this. The point that was brought up about basketball and hockey is a very cool comparison. I believe that if black people had access to hockey as much as they have access to basketball they would be the dominant race in hockey as well. White people dominate hockey because they have the means to play at a young age. Also, hockey is not really prevalent in the black culture and it is very prevalent in white culture. Black people tend to be better at basketball than white people because they are so fast and explosive because of their body type. I really enjoyed this part of the lecture because I am a very big hockey fan and a very big basketball fan and I was just having a similar conversation just the other day. I believe that social inequality is a product of society. If all races were given the exact same opportunities than the gap of success between the races would be much smaller. Mon, 6 Jun 2011 00:50:51 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/05/25/week-3-lesson-5-social-inequality/#IDComment159773669 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/05/25/week-3-lesson-4-ethnocentrism/#IDComment158246877 I agree with you that ethnocentrism has become a big part of what the world is all about. It is true that people in the United States look down at Muslims for their beliefs and culture. It is also true that the Media in the United States is a big part of the problem. News channels only show images of Muslims doing bad things which is a big part of why so many Americans are so Anti Muslim. I agree that Muslims feel the same way about the United States in a sense that they see images of Americans doing terrible things and so they look down on us. Wed, 1 Jun 2011 16:43:26 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/05/25/week-3-lesson-4-ethnocentrism/#IDComment158246877 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/05/25/week-3-lesson-4-ethnocentrism/#IDComment158030022 After watching the lectures from this weeks lessons I have to say that the part that interested me the most was the Christian invaders video. I thought that it was incredibly interesting the way he told all of the students in the class to imagine themselves as Arab Muslims throughout the class. I have always understood that most of the world, especially Arab Muslims, do not really like America too much, however I did not really ever make the distinction that most of the world views America as a Christian society. Arab Muslims look at American Christians the same way that Americans look at Arab Muslims. After thinking about this, I completely understand why Muslims look at Christians as bad. All religions look pretty messed up and wrong to people of other religions because all religions are a little bit messed up and wrong in their own way. All of the videos that he showed us of the high powered Americans discussing religion were very interesting to me. One part of the video that really interested me was when George Bush said that it was a religious crusade. I completely understand why Arab Muslims would think of Christians as the enemy after hearing the President of the United States, who is Christian, proclaim a religious crusade. Especially considering the history of religious crusades between Christians and Muslims. Another part of the lecture that I found to be very interesting was the part when we saw the videos of the American troops. The video that I found particularly troubling was the video where the Soldiers destroyed the Muslim Man's car which was later found out to be his only source of Money because he was a taxi driver. This just goes to show why people from other countries feel so negatively about the United States. People around the world see these videos and think that this is how Americans are, especially given the fact that we have been making a habit of going into other countries and taking their resources. Another part of this weeks lecture that I thought was very interesting was the part when they showed clips of the Southern Baptist church. The Southern Baptist Church has been something that I have been interested in for a while now. I have seen that documentary that they talk about in the video. For someone from another country, or someone in this country, if you see that documentary or a clip from the documentary, you would instantly think that Christians are completely crazy, and as an Arab Muslim, you would think that Americans are crazy. This is the same reason why so many people in the United States think so negatively about Muslims. Because they see video clips of Muslim extremists and think that this is the way that the majority of Muslims think. I really enjoyed this weeks lecture and look forward to the next one. Wed, 1 Jun 2011 02:19:04 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/05/25/week-3-lesson-4-ethnocentrism/#IDComment158030022 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/05/22/week-two-lesson-2-intro-to-race/#IDComment156175568 I agree with you that the part of the lecture when he brought all of those kids up to the front of the class was very amusing. It certainly wouldn't be an easy task to group all of them together in races. Don't fell bad about not knowing the Palestinian and Lebanese kid was white. I'm pretty sure everybody thought that He looked the most like a standard white guy out off everyone up there. I also agree with you that so far this class has helped me, and most people in the class I would think, not to just look at people as black, white, Indian, and so on because you really can't tell just by looking at someone. I also found the picture with the two babies to be very eye opening. Another week of interesting stuff. Thu, 26 May 2011 00:59:32 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/05/22/week-two-lesson-2-intro-to-race/#IDComment156175568 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/05/22/week-two-lesson-2-intro-to-race/#IDComment155804143 I found the lectures from week two to be incredibly interesting. Even though it is still so early in this course I have already found myself thinking way more about many things that I never think about. For one, I think it is very interesting that there are still so many slaves in the world today. I think it is amazing how nobody, including myself, consider this time period to be the biggest slave time period of all time. Obviously this has a lot to do with the fact that there are far and away more people living now then there were back in the time that most people consider the slave time, but it is still pretty unbelievable. Another part from the week two lecture that really caught my attention was when he discussed the fact that people of a certain race always think that people of another race look alike. I will admit that sometimes I think that a lot of people from other races look similar to each other. However I never really stopped to think that people from other races think the same thing about white people and other races that they are not. It is all about what you are accustomed to seeing. At first, that seemed really strange to me but after I thought about it it seemed to make a lot of sense. If someone from another country who is never around white people came to America or somewhere else where white people live, It makes sense that they would have a similar feeling to what we have which is that they all look alike. Over spring break this year I had the opportunity to go to China for a week which was pretty amazing. I saw so many Chinese people and I did think that for the most part they all looked very similar to one another. I can, however, see how maybe if I were to move to China and live there for an extended period of time that I might gain the ability to distinguish between them much better. Needless to say as a tall white guy I completely stood out and was looked at like a freak by most people. Even though I looked so different from everyone there, I would bet that If I was in a crowd of ten other white people, most of the Chinese people wouldn't have really seen too much difference in us. This is one of the things that I think is so amazing about race. Although in most races when we see someone in our own race we can easily tell them apart from someone else in our race, to other races it is not nearly as easy. These were just a few of the thoughts that I had on lecture two. Wed, 25 May 2011 00:29:31 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/05/22/week-two-lesson-2-intro-to-race/#IDComment155804143